Project Details
Projekt
Cologne Clinician Scientist Program
Subject Area
Dermatology
Term
since 2018
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 413543196
The mission of the Medical Faculty (MF) and the University Hospital Cologne (UHC) is to excel in clinical, translational, and basic medical research to improve patient care. Over the last decade, MF has systematically established the Cologne Clinician Scientist Track (CCSP) - a comprehensive clinician-scientist qualification concept to foster academic activities of physicians interested in both clinical and scientific career steps on an internationally visible level. Here, we apply for continuation of Accelerate, a key module of the CCSP. Accelerate specifically targets clinicians i) who have completed the initial 2-3 years of their clinical specialist training, and ii) have a proven outstanding talent in both science and clinical training. Importantly, Accelerate successfully closes the gap between the Modules i) GetInvolved, which targets residents in their first two years after graduation to keep them in touch with science while starting their clinical specialist training, and the Module ii) GoAhead, which supports those who have completed their clinical training (board certified clinical specialist) in pursuing a career as a clinician-scientist and in building their own research team.Accelerate as the key module of the CCSP is designed to promote a truly bidirectional translational approach, i.e., from bedside to bench and vice-versa, by fostering the exchange between clinically interested basic scientists and clinicians with a strong research interest and background. To enable these interactions, Accelerate offers its participants a structured, well-balanced scientific and clinical postgraduate training prior to qualifying for board certification (specialist/consultant status). Accelerate thus ensures that clinician-scientists can continue their clinical career path while pursuing their research projects during protected time periods that are an integrated part of a binding curriculum. Within the first funding period, Accelerate enrolled 22 outstanding clinician-scientists from 10 clinical departments. Protected time for research (50 %) was successfully implemented in the daily routine of all fellows. Remarkably, many CCSP fellows have already published parts of their research in high-ranked journals (up to IF 17) already two years after project kick-off. Taken together, Accelerate massively advanced the clinician-scientist career of all fellows enrolled, enabled reliable career planning, allowed to combine family life and a clinician-scientist career, and promoted women in clinical science. Funding the continuation of Accelerate will further establish the CCSP as an attractive, reliable, and comprehensive career program for highly motivated young clinicians with a proven scientific interest and talent, thereby boosting the fellows’ motivation and drive to pursue a scientific career in clinical medicine.
DFG Programme
Research Grants
